A mighty, mysterious creature spotted moving in Alaska's semi-frozen Chena River has set tongues wagging with the matter further blown up in the social media.
Enthusiasts took over the mystery and started defining the monster spicing it up with weird theories that ranged from the incarnation of Loch Ness Monster to branding it as fanciful creatures until the suspense ended in a new update.
Viral Video
Viewed more than 900,000 times, the video shows an unidentified object floating in the current of Alaskan River.
For the viewers who are used to the Alaska's BLM photos and videos of squirrels, porcupines and dramatic landscapes, the new video was different and spooky.
The purportedly Ice Monster was captured on camera by a BLM staffer as a moving icy shaped "creature" floating in the water.
The BLM employee, Craig McCaa, who shot the footage was on his routine job of taking photos from the University Avenue bridge in Fairbanks to show the magic of weather change.
The employee was struck by the view of a creature advancing with ripples and having a 15-foot body and swaying in the current.
"I initially thought, and several people thought, it could be some rope that snagged on the bottom of the river with chunks of ice," McCaa said.
Facebook Frenzy
The video went viral after McCaa promptly took the scary object to the Facebook with a short video.
There were people going ga-ga with their imagination running wild and calling it many names — sea monster, giant sturgeon with a few swearing the object nothing but the second coming of Scotland's famous Loch Ness Monster.
Among the motley of descriptions thrown on it were Chena Chomper, zombie salmon, a scabby whale, and an alligator or a huge arthropod.
According to experts, this kind of frenetic behavior is common when mysterious sightings happen. Society gets into overdrive when news about wild and undiscovered creatures or species comes up.
History is replete with examples of random appearances or unusual sights and stories following them and narrating them as extraterrestrial visitations and fantastic mythological creatures.
Quashed Suspense
However, the anti-climax came on Sunday with experts at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game noting that there is nothing biological about it and was a piece of junk.
The Facebook update of BLM put to rest the prediction spree as the BLM asserted that it was a "frazil ice stuck to a rope that is probably caught on a bridge pier."
Those who made wild comparisons were carried away by the aquatic slither of the creature much like a snake.
In the comments section many who weaved theories such as the arrival of Alaskan ice monster, visitation of Loch Ness monster's cousin or Nessie herself on a comeback beat a hasty retreat.
However, the man who found it was in awe and far from consoled.
"It's a strange thing. I don't know what I would have done if I had come by in a canoe or something," McCaa added.
So a story whose build up was grand petered out fast, throwing more yarn than the tail.
